Dream within a dream...
by Gabriel-San
Summary: What is everyone doing on Valentines day? (Palshiro, Hawkyako, Gabugato, Patavee (F), Renuki)


Another one for the contest. With about a month to do it how could I resist? I love pressure. It makes me work harder.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and am using them only for entertainment purposes. The title comes from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Now that I've said that he won't rise from the grave to depress me to death. And yes, the Izzy/Palmon coupling was inspired by the doujinshi of the same subject. I do wish to thank the creator of that, whoever they are. They gave me another couple to get cute about.

**Dream within a dream**

**By: Gabriel-San**

"It's not often we really get a chance to talk. I'm glad you could come out here." Valentines Day in the Digital world. Most of the citizens knew little, if anything about the day. However, those who had contact with humans learned much of it and took advantage of it. That is why Palmon was off in a small clearing amid a large, dense forest. Normally she'd never have the nerve to do such a thing as she was about to, but she'd heard that on Valentines Day you should be able to say all that you want to the one you love most.

"Well it really wasn't any trouble. Tentomon is taking the day off in the real world, and I don't have any pressing deadlines anytime soon. Besides, it sounded really important. You just seem a little on edge." Izzy Izumi was sitting there on a stump in that clearing with Palmon. He looked as he always did now, with his hair tamed and conquered more or less by mousse, and his pineapple icon sporting laptop, for the moment closed, so he could pay attention to Palmon. Such a nice boy.

Palmon fidgeted the tendrils that served as her fingers, her back to Izzy so he couldn't see the amount of nervousness that showed on her face. "It is kinda important... to me. Ummm... It's really hard for me to say this."

"Just go ahead and say it. There's no one around here, and I can assure you that I won't tell anyone. I won't even enter it into my computer, though if I ever had to I'd use every encryption protocol I could think of."

"That's so sweet of you Izzy. It's just... so hard for me to say it. I've been carrying around a secret for a long, long time. There are times when I just feel like crying because I can't say a thing. I almost told Mimi a few times, but I knew she wouldn't help me at all. She'd just giggle and start blabbering to everyone. I just couldn't let that happen. But now... Well, you know what day it is." Palmon blushed and held her fronds over her face, still looking away from Izzy with a smile.

"Sure I know what day it is it's... Thursday... the..." Izzy sweatdropped and quickly turned around on the stump he was sitting on, opening up his laptop and checking the date very quickly. "The fourteenth." He looked at the back of Palmon's head with a sweatdrop. "I guess Tentomon's right. I do need to get away from the computer every now and again."

Palmon turned around slowly, trying to keep a smile on her face but it was on the verge of breaking in a frown. "Don't you know? It's Valentines Day, the one day you can be totally honest with and about the one you love."

"Oh yes, I think I heard someone talking about that. Oh wait... That means that your secret is about love. I have to warn you right now, I'm not very good with matters of love. I'm better when it comes to things you can look at and reprogram."

"That's not important. You're the only person I can tell about this. All that really matters is what you think about this. For the longest time I've been in love with someone. But they have no idea how I feel."

"What does that have to do with me? Unless it's Tentomon. Not that I'm saying he's a bad guy or anything, because I'm not. He has a very active mind and his personality is second to none..."

"No, no, it isn't Tentomon. He's a friend but not like that. I wanted to talk to you because you're very smart, and trustworthy and..." Palmon stopped herself before she gave away too much.

"Thank you Palmon. It's nice you think so highly of me. So, who is it you're in love with?"

Palmon slowly turned around to face Izzy with a smile on her face and a blush on her cheeks. "I'm in love with... you..."

Izzy seemed quite taken aback, nearly falling over backwards on the stump. Here was a problem he couldn't reason his way out of. Logic and a good command of the computer wouldn't be able to tell him what to do. "You... you... love... me?" Palmon nodded a little bit and blushed deeper, hiding her face behind her fronds. "Th-that's... Why me? What's so special about me?"

"You're a genius! You can work a computer like no one else. Plus you're sweet, and kind, and honest and... and now I sound like a broken record..."

"I can see you've had time to think about this. And thought is the most important thing a person can do when confronting a questionable situation. I guess it applies to Digimon as well. How long have you felt this way about me?"

"I've felt like this almost the entire time I've known you. At first it was just a little crush. You were new and interesting, and almost the exact opposite of Mimi who could really get on your nerves after a while. But then as we continued to adventure and get closer... I don't know, what I felt matured and grew, like my feelings were Digivolving."

"That's quite a touching story. I'm ashamed to admit it but I hardly though of you at all. Then again, I'm behind the computer so much I hardly think of anyone. I hope I wasn't being impolite. I never mean to be rude but sometimes I'm blinded to details by over analyzing things. I can see most everything except what's really important."

"No, you weren't rude. I never really said or did anything to tell you about it. I was just too scared to. I wasn't sure what would happen. I just kept thinking that something would happen to bring us together. I was trying to get fate to do my job for me. Now that I've told you I feel a great sense of relief. I also don't feel I've wasted my life. Whatever happens next will happen because I finally did what I didn't think I could do."

"This is really very sudden. I hardly know what to say. It is very nice of you to think of me that way."

"I know I didn't give you any chance to really prepare. I'm sorry. But what with the day and everything, well... I just couldn't help it. Don't rush into anything you don't want to. Take some time to think it over. I know you're good at thinking. And whatever you figure out will make me happy."

Izzy opened up his laptop again and started typing furiously, taking some time to move the mouse around and check on a few things. When he finally turned the screen around he showed Palmon a picture of a big heart, with lace all around it.

"Oh Izzy! It's beautiful!" Palmon clasped her fronds together and gave a dreamy look to the heart.

"But that's not all. Thanks to the magic of computer-aided art and some quick cut and paste work I also added this." Izzy clicked one of the mouse buttons and inside of the heart appeared the words "Izzy and Palmon, forever." In the center of the heart appeared a picture of Izzy wearing a tuxedo, and Palmon wearing a wedding dress. "If this rather uncommon situation has anything to teach it's that sometimes things don't need to be thought about."

Palmon looked up at Izzy with big, dewy eyes and suddenly leaped at him, avoiding his laptop and ending up clinging to his chest. "Oh Izzy!"

Izzy looked down at Palmon rubbing her head against his chest and looking like everything in the world was just perfect. All he could say was what he usually ended up saying in any situation. "Prodigious..."

Valentines Day is not just for new love. Those who have been together for a while also use this day, to remember all that they mean to each other. Thusly, elsewhere in the Digital world, this time in a large field of tall grass, another person sat. This time it was Yolei Inoue, who was looking like her usual self, except she was in a pink dress that must have come directly from Mimi's closet, and probably was borrowed that very day. Other than the dress she looked like usual, purple hair hanging down straight, a bandana covering the top of her head. In her hands she nervously held a large box in the shape of a heart, like something one might find at a candy store. "I hope he comes soon. I don't want this to melt out here. I mean, I told him where and when. He should be here already. Imagine, making me wait like this. This deserves a bonus gift from him, no excuses. I'm really gonna let him have it when he gets here!"

That's the moment the one she was waiting for chose to arrive. With a flutter of wings and a quick transference of a box from his talons to his wings Hawkmon landed gracefully beside Yolei. "Hello dear."

Yolei turned on him with a snarl and began to berate him immediately, not giving him a chance to interject anything besides the occasional "But... but!" "How could you do this to me? I was sitting here for you right on time and now you're late! This could have melted out here but do you care? No! You just took your own sweet time about it didn't you?"

Hawkmon was on his back, looking up at Yolei as she vented her rage at him. He knew the only thing to do was just hang tight until she was done. Hawkmon had the patience to do it, which was good, since Yolei could go on for a while like that.

"... And another thing, do you think I LIKE wearing this dress? No! It's the wrong size but it's all Mimi had for me! And look at this color! Pink? I mean what's with this?"

Hawkmon decided to cut this one short and held out a rose that he'd been carrying in his headband behind the feather. This one had been dethorned for him by Palmon, who had been looking quite romantic about something. "Here you are, Yolei. Happy Valentines day."

Yolei stopped in mid-rant, eyes settling on the rose held out to her. She abruptly changed the look of her face from angry to ecstatic seemingly without transition. "Oh my gosh! It's so beautiful! Oh Hawkmon you're so nice to me."

"Think nothing of it Yolei. It is, after all, the day for lovers. And if there is one thing that's quite certain, it's that we are together."

Yolei smiled brightly and then handed Hawkmon the box she had been holding. "Here you go. I got these especially for you. Two dozen assorted chocolates. Mostly coconut, your favorite."

Hawkmon pulled the top off of the box with great eagerness and immediately started munching on one, giving a candy-muffled "Thanks."

Yolei noticed the box that Hawkmon was carefully holding in his wings, along with the candy box, which was a feat in and of itself. "Say, what's in the box you've got there?"

Hawkmon finished off another piece of candy before answering, manners taking a backseat to chocolate-coated coconut candy. "Oh. This is for you. A little gift to show you how I feel." He carefully handed the box to Yolei and went back to eating his chocolates.

Yolei took the box, which was small enough to fit in her hand. It was covered in black velvet and had a hinge on it. Yolei opened it up to reveal a satin interior, on which rested a shiny silver ring. "Oh my... Hawkmon, it's lovely..." She removed it from the box and slowly slipped it onto her right ring finger, admiring how it fit like a dream. "Perfect. Oh Hawkmon how did you find such a perfect ring?"

Hawkmon, having gotten his fill of chocolates, had taken a seat beside Yolei. "Well it wasn't easy. I got your finger measurement while you were asleep and then found some Gazimon who were willing to do it for how much I had. You wouldn't believe how rude some Digimon can get when you're on a budget."

Yolei leaned down and gave Hawkmon a kiss on the beak, wrapping an arm around his warm, feathery body. "Thank you. Thank you so much. For everything."

Hawkmon rubbed his beak against Yolei's cheek and smiled. "You're quite welcome. It's always a pleasure to be here with you."

At other times, love is a battlefield. Pat Benetar was quite right in that respect. The wars for love can be massive or mundane. On this day of romance two Digimon are off to try and beat each other to the supreme romantic prize. First off there was Patamon, the batpig. He held a box with his forelegs, a nice pink-wrapped box with a bow and a card with a big heart on it. He was flying like... well, like a batpig out of hell. Because beside him was his competitor, Veemon. The blue dragonish Digimon carried with him a large stuffed teddy bear holding a small package.

"Give it up you flying sausage! I'm gonna get there first and you know it!" Veemon shifted the teddy bear in his arms and grabbed at a stick on one of the trees he was running past. He yanked it off and tossed it at Patamon's package.

"Forget it you blue pain in the posterior! I'll get there so far ahead by the time you get there we'll already have an egg." Patamon dodged the stick by flying higher and then surged forward in a power dive while flapping his ears extra hard. He started to gain some ground on Veemon, almost a full body length ahead.

"Not so fast!" Veemon lowered his head and hugged the bear tighter to him, running flat-out without caring about what was in his way.

And just what could make these two act so crazy? Why, none other than the beautiful Gatomon, who, at that very moment, was sitting beside a stream in the shade of a tree, lightly grooming her arms. She knew, of course, that she had two anxious suitors after her. Both just happened to be the partners of the humans who were fighting over her partner. However, she knew something that the two of them did not. She had already chosen the one who would be hers. She had chosen long ago. But only she and he knew.

"Oh Gatomon!" Two hands covered her eyes, making Gatomon giggle softly. "Guess who this is."

Gatomon light wrapped her tail around one of the legs of the one covering her eyes. "Let's see, good strong hands, manly voice, perfect man for me. It could only be Gabumon!"

The lizard Digimon removed his hands from Gatomon's face and walked around in front of her, lightly giving her a kiss. "You're so good at that game."

Gatomon lightly stroked Gabumon's belly, nuzzling at his snout at the edge of his Garurumon skin. "There's only one Digimon I know who'd try that with me."

"Happy Valentines day my sweet." Gabumon sat down beside Gatomon and pressed himself snugly against her.

Gatomon wrapped an arm around Gabumon and settled against him, enjoying the warmth of his Garurumon pelt. "Patamon and Veemon are still trying to get me to choose one of them. It's kinda cute just because Kari seems caught between their human partners. But I don't think it's right to lead them on like that. Sure it's a big ego boost and I get free stuff out of it, but it's just not fair to them. Or to you. Sometimes I wonder just how you put up with me."

Gabumon slowly gave Gatomon's cheek a slurp, a very canine action for the reptilian Digimon. "I put up with you because, gosh darn it, you're just so cute and cuddly. And because I decided quite awhile ago that no matter what I'd love you. Seems I've upheld that pretty well."

Gatomon blushed deeply and snuggled herself against Gabumon's warm body. "I'm going to tell them. Today. I know they're going to go overboard with this whole Valentines day thing. It's only fair to let them know. And I want you here too. I want to be totally and utterly honest."

Gabumon nodded a little bit, giving Gatomon's cheek a soft kiss. "Be glad to help. But I should be out of sight at first. No sense in being too blunt. That might be rather hurtful." Gabumon slid away from Gatomon and scampered behind a tree, settling down for the wait.

"Outta the way flyboy! I'm gonna get there first!"

"Forget it you wannabe hat rack! I can see her from here!"

Gatomon held a gloved hand over her face. This was not how she pictured her life going, not even close to it. However, she was determined to set it on some reasonable track, so she pasted a smile on her face and watched as the two males came to a halt right next to each other, each one holding out his gift to her and saying "Happy Valentines day!"

Gatomon gingerly took both gifts and set them lightly beside her, thanking both boys for the presents. "This is very sweet of you two. Really. I'm quite flattered by the attention." She slid down one of her gloves to look at the scars on the back of her hand. A life lived in pain, and saved by one Digimon. Two. But one was gone now, and the other had been there to help her deal with everything; very patiently and sweetly. "However, I think it's time this stopped. The competition isn't getting anywhere and it's starting to affect how we work together. So I'm going to tell you who I have chosen."

Patamon and Veemon snapped to attention, grooming themselves a little bit before giving their undivided attention to Gatomon. Gatomon sighed softly and looked at the slowly flowing stream. "This has nothing to do with TK, Kari, or Davis. The one I choose will not "win" Kari for their partner. Now, the one I have chosen to be mine, as long as we live is..." Gatomon hesitated a beat, Veemon and Patamon holding their breaths in anticipation. "Gabumon. No one but Gabumon."

Veemon and Patamon took a moment absorb that, faces changing from anticipation to numbness to shock, and they looked even more shocked when Gabumon emerged from behind the tree and walked over to Gatomon, giving her a tender kiss. "It is rather unfortunate that you learned it this way. But at least she was honest."

"I couldn't go on lying to you, pretending that someday one of you might have a chance. At first I just strung you along for gifts and fun, but that hurt everyone, including me, eventually. I've been in love with Gabumon ever since Myotismon killed Wizardmon. He comforted me through all my pain, and helped to keep me from getting too depressed. After that I just spent more and more time with him, in secret."

Patamon dropped from the air and landed with a heavy thud on the soft grass. "No... chance?"

"It just figures. I work my butt off to try and get with a cute Digimon and what happens? I get played for a sucker! Oh well, there's still Biyomon."

"Get within five feet of her and Agumon will have words with you. Most of them dirty." Patamon was not feeling very friendly after the rejection. Who would? "How can you do this? We were meant to be together as Angels."

"Don't try to make me feel guilty! That's just rude! I will not be held captive by my Digivolutions. I'm really sorry, I am. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Try to be understanding. She couldn't let anyone know what was going on. At first it wasn't serious enough to mention, then it was exciting sneaking around, and eventually it just got to be the way things were." Gabumon held Gatomon to him, not quite distrusting, but rather close to it.

"B-but... Gatomon..." Patamon appeared on the verge of tears, his entire world collapsing around him. "I..."

"Forget it big ears. This is either the best jealousy tactic ever or she's serious. Either way I'm leaving." Veemon shook his head and stalked off into the forest.

"This can't be right. It's supposed to be a day for romance..." Patamon flapped his ears and flapped off in roughly the same direction as Veemon.

"Should I go after them? Try to do something else..?"

"That wouldn't help. They have to handle this problem on their own. Only time can help them now."

Patamon flew through the forest, winding around trees, dodging vines and branches, and putting a twisted path between him and his past with Gatomon. Correction, his illusion of a past with Gatomon. How could she? She had lied to him. Lied about everything. Those times when she had been out scouting around, when Matt had Gabumon were doing the same thing, those were nothing but chances for her to go off and do... he didn't even want to think about what was going on. All he could do way fly on. He pushed himself to be as fast as possible without even thinking about his ability to go that long. Which is why he ended up laying over a rock, panting and gasping for breath, his tired ears drooping and still.

A rustling in the bushes told Patamon someone was approaching him, but he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't have the strength for a Boom Bubble, or even to just fly away. Whatever it was could have him. He didn't care anymore. He looked up to watch the bushes slowly parting, delivering his fate... "Veemon? What are you doing here? Get out of my face. You're the last thing I need..."

"Excuse me? What did I do to you?" That was most definitely not Veemon's voice. At least not the one he knew. That was the voice of a temptress. A pleasant mezzo-soprano that was absolute heaven to his tired ears. The female Veemon emerged fully from the bush. Her blue flesh was slightly moist, probably fresh from a bath and looking for a place to relax afterwards. On each wrist dangled three silver bracelets, and a few rings glittered on her fingers. Her right ankle bore two steel anklets, and her left one had just one.

"Oh my..." She might have resembled the Veemon he knew, but there was enough difference in the softness of her features and the little trinkets that decorated her to make her look... lovely. "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"Well, I'm glad I'm not that person. Sounds like you're pretty angry with them." The female Veemon made her way closer to Patamon, anklets and bracelets making soft jingling sounds as she walked.

"Well... It's not him I'm mad at. Not really anyway." Patamon wiggled over on the rock, giving the Veemon girl a place to sit.

"Care to talk about it? Talking about what's wrong always helps you deal with it I've found." The Veemon female sat in the offered spot, looking down at Patamon with concern.

"You see... Today is Valentines Day in the human world. It's a celebration of love and romance and all those nice things. Veemon and I were doing what we usually did, fighting over the same girl. We'd been doing it for the longest time and neither of us had gotten anywhere. Today we found out why. She was involved with someone else, had been since before we even started after her. She'd been leading us on the whole time."

"How terrible. You mean she just dropped this on you both? That's so mean. Was she cocky and dismissive about it?"

"No... Actually she was kind. Made sure we understood that she was sorry, introduced us to who it was. It was a good friend of mine. We'd know each other for a long time. But obviously not as well as I thought."

"You must have been so hurt. Were you really in love with her?"

"Deeply. I fought hard to try to get her to notice me over Veemon. I brought her gifts, I was always a perfect gentleman, and I never once tried to push her to make a choice. Well, maybe a few times, but I didn't do it all the time."

"Sounds like you were more interested in fighting and winning than anything else."

"That's not it at all. I was really in love with her. I just didn't want Veemon to get to her first. I wanted... to be... Oh no... I was just as bad. Maybe even worse." Patamon slumped even more on the rock, looking worse than dejected.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't know. Do you hate... what's her name?"

"Gatomon. And Gabumon is the one she's in love with."

"Do you hate Gatomon or Gabumon because they are in love with each other? And if you do, is it because of genuine feeling, or is it just you can't stand losing?"

"I couldn't hate either one. They're still friends. I guess it's just that the shock got to me. It's not an easy thing to handle."

"That's understandable."

"You're very nice, helping a perfect stranger and all."

"You're not quite a perfect stranger. You must know that everyone in the Digital world knows of you and what you have done for us so often. I've always wanted to meet one of the chosen Digimon. This is a wonderful coincidence."

Patamon blushed softly, looking away from the female Veemon. "Awww, thanks. I didn't think we had fans out here."

"You might say some of us want to be groupies. It would be a great honor to be a part of the group that saved our world many times."

"I'm glad that our hard work is so appreciated. It's very comforting to realize that we didn't do all that for nothing."

"It most certainly wasn't for nothing. Everything that you did was grand and heroic. Especially you."

"Me? I didn't do anything particularly special."

"Certainly you did. Wasn't it your Mega form that banished Piedmon from our world? That was a most heroic act."

"Thanks... It was just what I had to do."

"I know others who would give anything to be sitting right where I am right now. But I wouldn't trade this seat for anything in the Digital world. I'm sharing a rock with a hero."

Patamon blushed deeper and rose a little to nuzzle at the Vee-girl. "Thanks. I feel so much better now."

The Veemon girl blushed a deep green and lightly stroked a hand over Patamon's head. "So tell me more about this Valentines day..."

"Rika? Rika? Come on, wake up, Heartbreaker."

Rika Nonaka slowly opened her eyes, and found herself look up at the fluffy face of her Digimon partner and lover, Renamon. The strange dream she had just left still ran through her head, fading lightly as she grew more and more awake. "Strange..." She thought. "Looks like I spent too long reading about romance yesterday. But how could I not?" She smiled a little and rose up until she could kiss Renamon on the cheek. "Happy Valentines day, Renamon."

Renamon returned the kiss with a soft sigh. "Happy Valentines day, Heartbreaker. You looked like you were ready to sleep through the entire day and then some."

"Sorry... I was up kinda late last night. I was reading romance stories that I found on a website dedicated to the fictional Digimon. Some people really know how to put passion behind their words."

"I wondered why you were in front of the computer for so long."

"Sorry I got to bed after you were already asleep."

"It's alright Heartbreaker. I understand. But just wait until tonight. Talk about putting passion behind words..."

Rika, though still retaining almost all of her solid toughness, couldn't help but blush at that. "Heated words whispered in the throes of lovemaking are always passionate, no matter what they are."

Renamon wrapped her arms around Rika and held her tight, the girl's bare flesh pressed warmly against the Digimon's soft fur. "Even if it's something as simple as the words "I love you...""

"Rika! Renamon! Breakfast!"

"Be right there, Grandma!" Rika would have loved to stay in that tight embrace for hours, and she probably could have, but she couldn't miss breakfast. Mother was home today, having shot all of the terribly overdone Valentines day commercial and catalog spots weeks beforehand. So, with great difficulty, Rika wiggled herself free of Renamon's arms and set about getting dressed.

Renamon, who was always more or less dressed, simply faded out of the room and faded back in at the dining room table, appearing right beside Mikino. "Good morning, Mother."

Mikino, who had made peace with all in the house and learned to accept things as they were, smiled at Renamon and gave her a warm hug. "Good morning Renamon. I hope today is good for you."

"With my Heartbreaker by my side and my new family here it most certainly will be."

"Where is that girl?" Grandma laid out a big pile of pancakes and looked up at the entrance to the dining room.

"She'll be here. She was just getting dressed. Heartbreaker was up late last night reading romance stories, probably to get an idea of how to be romantic. Not that she needs any help in that department." Renamon gave Mikino and Grandma a sly grin and piled a few pancakes on her plate.

A few seconds later Rika ran into the room and plopped herself down at the table without a word. She started gobbling everything she could reach like she was in an eating contest.

"Rika! Rika! Slow down. You'll make yourself sick if you eat like that." Mikino looked to Renamon helplessly, knowing only the vulpine Digimon could actually stop her daughter.

"Can't slow down! Late for school!"

"No you're not. You're out sick with a terrible cold. Might keep you out until Monday. Poor dear, you're suffering so. It's very sad." Mikino dabbed at her eyes and made a pouting face while she handed Rika a copy of the note she had sent along to the school.

Rika let her eyes graze over the note, capturing the main points. "You got me out of school for today, Friday, and the weekend? Oh mother! Thank you!" Renamon moved back a little to give Rika a clear path to hug her mother.

Mikino laughed softly and gave her daughter a tight squeeze. "I thought you might like that. I know you're really doing well at school, and you did say it was boring. So I arranged for this so you could enjoy Valentines day."

"How wonderful. An entire day with Rika. I can hardly believe it. Grandma, did you know about this?"

"I had a clue she was cooking up something, but didn't know exactly what it was. Mikino this is such a good gift for them."

"I still feel that I owe them both a lot. Nothing I do will really make up for what I did, but I'm hoping this will help a little."

Rika hugged her mother a moment longer, before looking over to Renamon. She released her mother and moved to Renamon, clinging tightly to her, continuing the hug she had wiggled out of earlier. "This is going to be so great. I get to spend Valentines day with Renamon, and don't have to worry about a thing."

"Well... You might have to worry about one thing. I just bought myself a new camera and I plan to use it. Now, Rika, I know you hate cameras but I'm not taking modeling pictures. I'm going to start a scrapbook for you and Renamon."

"Now that I did know about. And I got a little something for the both of you that I'm sure you're going to love." Grandma left the room quickly after sharing a conspiratorial smile with Mikino. She returned shortly with two boxes. Both were around the same size, plain white, looking like the kind you get from clothing stores. One box went to Rika and the other to Renamon. Both boxes were soon opened and the contents removed carefully from the boxes. Renamon held up a bright saffron kimono, a purple obi in the box, carefully matched to the color of her arm straps. Rika held up a kimono that was the most delicate shade of cherry blossom pink she had ever seen, her obi the color of the broken heart on her shirt.

Renamon was speechless, only able to turn the garment around to admire every detail of it. On the back was a picture of a graceful fox standing proudly against the rising sun, the wind lightly rustling her fur. Rika looked on the back of hers and discovered a scene of a cherry tree slowly shedding its blossoms. Beneath that tree a red-haired girl sat with a fox, both of them staring at each other with a loving look. The dye jobs on both of them were absolutely flawless. "Mother they're... they're perfect." Rika, usually able to express herself and overcome most emotions, could not do so in this case. "They must have cost a fortune..."

"Repayment from the deprogramming center. After Gothicmon tore it up they were worried about lawsuits, because they thought pictures had been taken during the attack or that one of the inmates would talk. So they threw a big, and I mean big, pile of money at everyone to just keep quiet."

"Money won't make up for what they did... but this is a good step towards that." Rika slowly slid her kimono on, practically shivering at the smoothness of the silk as it caressed her bare arms.

"Oh Heartbreaker it looks lovely." Renamon slid hers on after watching Rika do a slow turn before her. The silk slid easily over her arm sheaths and closed perfectly around her. It kept her tail in a small space that didn't allow it to rise at all, but that was a minor problem indeed. "How did you get all these shades so perfect? This obi is just the right color. And so is hers..."

"You two sleep deeply. It wasn't much of a problem to get a few dropped articles, get them to a color matcher and return them before dawn." Grandma smiled as she sat down at the table, setting out a pot of tea.

"So, after I'm done with my doting mothering and picture taking what do you plan to do with your day?"

"I don't know... I never expected the whole day. It's not like we can go out and act like other couples do. Well, we could, but people would be screaming "kitsune" everywhere we went."

"I don't really feel like going out today anyway. The park would be the only place to go and you just know that Jeri and Leomon will be snuggling under a tree. Not that it's bad, but I don't like cutting in on other couples."

"Here's where more of that money comes in. I'm going to give you a fine, romantic Valentines day together, all on me." Mikino smiled as the faces of Rika and Renamon lit up at the news. She had a long way to go to truly atone, but this was certainly a big step on that road. "Anything you could want, I'll get it. Candy, flowers, moderately expensive jewelry, anything you could want to give to each other or do together, all you have to do is ask."

"This is too much. Thank you so much mother. I never would have imagined something like this." Renamon wiped one eye lightly and smiled at Mikino.

"I certainly know what I'd like. Breakfast in bed. Pancakes, eggs, orange juice, tea, toast, and some of that sakura jam we made."

"That sounds yummy. I'd like that too."

"You two just scoot right off to your room and I'll bring it in in a little while." Mikino and Grandma both went off to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast request. "Oh wait!" Mikino ran back into the dining room before Rika or Renamon had left. In her hands she held a sleek digital camera, probably something grandma bought online. "I can't miss a perfect picture opportunity like this. Hug each other and smile." Not needing much bidding to do that, the two females complied, and Mikino snapped off a picture. When they turned to go Mikino snapped another one. "Just to get a shot of those lovely pictures on the backs."

Rika and Renamon made their way back to their room, slipping out of the kimonos as the door slid shut. "This is beyond everything I expected." Renamon said with a smile, folding her kimono carefully and setting it softly aside.

Rika did the same thing, snuggling up to Renamon as she stood there, running her fingers through the sea of warm fur her Digimon lover had. "It certainly is. A whole day of everything we want. Sometimes, Renamon, when it all comes together like this, it feels like we're living in a dream..."

~Owari~


End file.
